Knots
by DistrictThirteenTribute
Summary: While on a nice day out, Regina decides to teach Roland something new: how to tie his shoes.


**So for some reason, I had difficulty tying my shoe this morning, and then this little number popped into my head. It's actually how a lot of my stories are born. Not this specific example, but something random like this. Pretty short but I hope you enjoy!**

It was one of those rare days where it wasn't too cold and the sun shown brightly. So naturally I decided to take advantage of the opportune weather and spend it outside. And I could think of no way better to do it than with my youngest son, Roland.

After informing him of my idea and asking where he wanted to go, Roland instantly jumped up and down exclaiming how much he wanted to go to the playground, a plan I had no problem agreeing to.

Even though he seemed upset about Henry not being able to join us, due to him being over at Emma's, he quickly recovered and ran towards the front door, his jacket only about halfway on his little arms. A few minutes later we were making our way to the playground, with Roland carrying his stuffed monkey that I had made him in his arms. He took that thing everywhere and I had to make sure to magically clean it every few days.

We turned the final corner and I knew that he could see the plastic tower that topped off the jungle gym. Once we passed through the gate, Roland all but ran to it and started climbing the plastic yet sturdy steps. I loved that every time he came here he reacted as if it was his first time. Neither he nor any other children had a playground like this back in the Enchanted Forest.

"Gina!" He exclaimed once he reached the other side of the jungle gym. "Come watch me slide!" With a smile on my face, I quickly walked over to where Roland was standing. A few seconds later, he was coming down the red plastic slide, looking like he had had the time of his life.

He went through the whole playground at least twice and did everything in a different order both times. I'll admit that I got a bit tired running after him and making sure he was out of harm's way, but seeing the smile on his face made it all worth it.

Roland began running around the jungle gym to start another round when he suddenly tripped. Luckily, the rubber flooring prevented him from getting seriously injured, but it still didn't stop me from chasing after him and double checking.

"Roland!" I cried as he was standing up and brushing the dirt off his pants. "Are you alright?" I asked as I knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, Gina. I"m fine."

I smiled and with a glance down, I instantly noticed what he made him trip.

His shoes weren't tied.

"Oh, Roland, your shoelaces are undone." I moved my hands to his shoes to fix the problem but quickly stopped. "Roland? Do you know how to tie your shoes?"

He looked at me with his big brown eyes and shook his head.

"Okay, well I'm going to teach you. Right now. Sound good?" His eyes widened and he nodded this time, eager to learn something new. Both of his shoes had become undone but I took the laces in his right shoe to start. I noticed him look down at his shoes and could tell he was paying close attention. "So the first thing you do is take both laces-" I pulled them up high so he could see, "and cross one-" I took the one on my left and his right, "then take the same one into the hole between the two and pull." I released the shoelaces so he could see what it looked like so far. He gave a curt nod, as if letting me know that he had understood what I had just done. "Ready for the next step?"

"Yeah!" He cheered.

"Alright. Now you take both laces and turn them into loops." I demonstrated. "We're going to cross the two just like we did before, do you remember?" His head bobbed up and down again, silently asking me to continue. "So you cross them, and we also have to take one under again-" I did so, "and pull!" Once I had tightened it, I let go with a flourish so Roland could see what I had done. He looked down at it, almost surprised at what he saw.

"It's like magic!" He declared. I let out a laugh.

"Yes, kind of. Magic that _you_ can do. Are you ready to try the other one by yourself?"

"Okay." He didn't hesitate in reaching for the laces on his left shoe.

As I expected, he didn't get it on his first try and it took him a couple of attempts to get past the first knot. But he kept trying and said he wanted to do at least one by the time we had to leave and be able to master it by the time Robin came home from his job at the station. What he didn't know was that I had sent Robin a message before we left the house telling him of our whereabouts and he responded soon after saying he will gladly meet us there and we could walk home together.

I moved over to the bench while Roland sat on the floor, still going at it.

Finally, after about ten minutes, I heard Roland's voice.

"Gina, look!" He walked over to me and although I could already tell that he had tied his left shoe, I waited until he stopped in front of me and pointed to it to react.

"Roland, that is so good! I'm so proud of you!" I brought him into my arms for a hug, one which he returned with as much strength as he had.

"Thank you Gina, thank you!" He exclaimed when he pulled away. "I can't wait to show Papa!"

"And I can't wait to see it."

Roland and I both turned, shocked to see his father and my husband standing there at the entrance to the playground. As much as I was expecting him, I wasn't aware that he was watching us.

With a large smile on his face he approached us, took Roland in his arms, and lifted him up.

"And what are you thanking Gina for?" Robin asked him.

"Papa, look!" Roland pointed to his shoe as best he could given his current position in Robin's arms.

"She taught you to tie your shoes?" Roland nodded proudly. "And you did it all by yourself?" Another nod and this time I smiled widely at him. "Great job Roland." He praised his son as he brought him in for a hug. "Now what do you say we go home and get dinner started?"

"Can I tie the rest of my shoes then?" Roland asked. Robin chuckled.

"Of course you can." He answered. After setting Roland down, he took his usual position of walking between us and took Robin's and my hand in each one of his. Together, hand-in-hand, the three of us walked back home.

**This is the first Once Upon a Time story I've ever written. It's also the fastest one. It normally takes me a much longer time to write and publish, but I felt like I could get this one done quickly, so I tried to. OUAT is my absolute favorite show and I LOVE the fanfics for this fandom. I'm very glad that I finally get to dip my feet into it. So thank you for reading, review if you can, and I'll see you for the next one!**


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